Childhood farm injuries and fatalities most often occur while children are playing in an agricultural worksite, or are bystanders to agricultural work. Children younger than 10 years old experience one of the highest rates of pediatric farm-related injury, according to a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Ideally, non-working children should be physically separated from the occupational and environmental hazards associated with agricultural worksites. Safe play areas are an alternative to bringing children into the worksite, especially when off-farm childcare is not available.

Creating Safe Play Areas on Farms is a booklet developed by the National Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety. It provides the first comprehensive guide for designing and building an outdoor safe play area on a farm. It was developed for safety professionals, farm and rural community leaders, and farm owners who want to understand important features of safe play areas for children who live on or visit farms. The booklet and other resources are available at: http://www.marshfieldclinic.org/nccrahs/?page=nccrahs_welcome

A new research project, Motivating Farm Parents to Create Safe Play Areas on Farms: A Randomized Controlled Trial, is being lead by Eileen Fisher and Marizen Ramirez from The University of Iowa and Risto Rautiainen from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. This project is a randomized controlled trial among three groups to evaluate the effectiveness of specific interventions to motivate parents to build safe play areas.

Contact: Eileen Fisher